A problem has been brewing in my household. It may be slightly related to the lack of banana stock. Yeah… it’s pointless trying to keep them in ample supply with the minion infestation we have on our hands. The situation exploded in the past couple of weeks.
The heart of the problem―The Grass Is Greener Syndrome. My child struggles with the need for material things—the addition of new things—daily. He’s always wanting what somebody else has or the thing he doesn’t yet have. My husband would call this a lack of appreciation for what he has. I wonder if it isn’t deeper than that. I wonder if he is trying to fill a void, always stuffing it with something new. When he gets something new and the void isn’t filled, he moves on to the next new item on his list and begins the drumbeat we’ve all become so familiar with—the relentlessly hounding. Whichever it is, it’s been an ongoing problem for some time now.
But wait! Hold your fluffy unicorns for a moment. Before I continue down this minion story path I must tell you about Thor. Our god of thunder has been extremely busy the past couple of weeks and has managed to keep Melinda VanLone on her toes and running. I’m sure she’s now enjoying a quiet break with a fine cocktail…or napping a lot. 🙂 Catch up with Thor and his anarchy via the links below:
A Godly Visitor
Thor is a Lush
Thor Storms DC
Thor Storms DC Continued
Thor Finds His Steed
Getting back to the grass is always greener…my son recently returned home from a two-week trip with a small army of minions in his company. You’ve heard of these little guys? They’re small, yellow, talk funny, and are often found in the company of a plotting genius who is up to no good.
Yep. That’s them. He’s been home three days and I can’t tell you what lengths he’s gone to in the attempt to con me into driving to every store within a twenty-mile radius that might carrying minion toys. Oh, and the supermarket. Apparently minion toys can be found in certain cereals as well. It’s been nonstop attempts of manipulation!
~Gasp.
BANG!
…
CRASH!
Baaarg! Baah-bamaa. Aaargh!
<thump…boom…shuffle, shuffle>
Baaarg!
Oh no! I’ve been taken captive! Does anyone speak evil minion? I have no idea what’s happening.
What did you say over there? I should WHAT? Let the kid buy all the minion merchandise his heart desires. Oh, I don’t know about that. I think that would be adding kindle to a fire that’s already out of control.
Barffk! Arghk mak ooouhhlaa arrrrgh!
…i.e. Don’t care
Sigh. How will I get myself out of this tangled mess?
<Shuffle. Scurry. Crack!>
“WHHHAAAAA?…Ohhh. He he he,” Minion Jerry cheeks turn bright red when Carl turns the gun around in Jerry’s hand, correcting his hold.
“Baaarrzz.” The evil minions march away, defeated, without further fight.
Minions to my rescue! Yay—they save the day!
“Hana, Dul, Sae. Kanpai! Hana, Dul, Sae. Kanpai!”
Translation: One, Two, Three. Cheers!
“Gelato!”
The rapid thunder of a multitude of mini-minion feet echo off the hard wood floors as they make a quick exit in search of ice cream.
Um…could someone please untie me?
Well, as you can see…it’s Minion crazy here at my place. While I sit and wait for some help with this binding, let me swing back to the topic those pesky little purple guys tried to stop me from talking about. Things. More and more stuff.
I won’t deny that I had some pretty awesome items when I was a kid, but nowhere near what kids today have. And I remember diligently saving up my chore money to buy that $2.48 fashion doll at the local toy store. I’m sure there are plenty of kids that still live like this today—carefully saving their money for that one special toy they must have. No doubt it’s a lot more expensive than my doll from so many years ago.
Our problem may be partially rooted in location. Many of our neighbors, and my child’s classmates, have more disposable income. It trickles down in more STUFF for the kids, and I assure you this never goes unnoticed. It starts as, “But so-and-so has…” or “When do I get a [blank] like so-and so?” It only expands from there. Wanting the same things to be cool like them, and eventually wanting more. Maybe it’s to prove something to himself or his classmates about status. Maybe it’s an illness or compulsion. Or maybe it’s simply a kid used to getting too much who can’t handle not looking, or who can’t accept “No,” for an answer.
It’s an ongoing work-in-progress.
Has your home ever been over-run by a particular obsession? Does anyone you know have this compulsion, be it any age with any type of item? Have you found a successful way of handling the situation?
~oOo~
Thanks for stopping by! I truly appreciate your support. Until next time, au revoir.
LOL I think all kids are like this! I remember wanting everything my friends and neighbors had. I also was told “no” a lot. My daughter went through a spell where she wanted everything Pokémon! Sometimes she got it. More often, she had to wait until her birthday or Christmas came around, or later, until she had enough money saved up. I do think living in an affluent area complicates the issue. We live in a suburb where income runs the gamut, so my daughter always knew kids who had more than she did, but also knew kids who had less. Good luck escaping your Minions! (Love that photo!)
I’m sure we all go through it at some point or another. Mine is a one-track-mind kind of kid who doesn’t know how to let something rest. I’m sure it’s part of his aspergers and it can be a challenge at times. My other child wants as well, but doesn’t hound nearly as incessantly. I can already see the future stretching out before us. I recall crying when my dad wouldn’t by my a particular classic Plymouth I wanted. Yeah, times will be fun. LOL. It’s good for kids to see a little of everything when it comes to lifestyles. There is a wider range here than one might realize at first glance, but my child has managed to bond within his “geek club” with a more affluent group.
Glad you liked the photo. We had fun with that. My kids were more than happy to help. Ha ha!
My son was also into Pokemon. He spent every free dollar he had on those cards. He had stacks of them! But he actually sold “valuable” duplicates on Ebay. So funny what will catch a kids eye.
PS-now i see why it could be handy to carry a swiss army knife in my pocket–who knew you could find yourself tied to a chair?? 🙂
I can’t remember what show it was I was watching where the kid traded their HTF Pokemon card for a common and the Dad drove to the other kids house trying to get it back. Ha! Parental confrontation. Kids were crying because no one wanted to trade back, but Dad had just paid some high price to procure that card. Ha! The things we do for our kids. Funny thing is, my son is tweaking his Amazon wishlist daily, and informing us of said changes. Some of his interests have lasted for ages, others have come and gone with the wind. We never know which are going to stick. My daughter does the same thing. First it was Thor, then Jack from Titanic, followed by Jack Sparrow. Right now she has a thing for Matt Smith – the 11th Doctor. I have to say I approve of her choices. 😉 Seven and already a hopeless romantic.
Yes, a swiss army pocket knife would have come in real handy. 😀
I loved this blog and can totally identify with it. School holidays are a nightmare! My seven year old has an insatiable appetite for ipad apps, but not the free ones. It’s only a couple of pounds, but he gets bored of them so quickly, it soon adds up.
Anyway I love your photos of the minions, I want the one with the maid’s outfit that can come around and clean my house! 😉
I can completely identify with what your saying. So far my seven-year-old has been restricted to free apps (mostly), but she has collected THREE pages of them on her iPad. It’s crazy! My minion crazy son doesn’t even have one page. Of course he tires of the few he has quickly and doesn’t want to play them. He is only interested in the expensive games, hence no additional games for him.
I would totally go for the maid minion. My kids favorite is Carol. He is the one who runs around with the siren. They like to imitate him all the time. It’s lovely. No really!
And one more thing…I have a wordpress.org blog and don’t understand why my picture never comes up. (rolling eyes)
x
Caroline
I don’t pretend to understand wordpress. Some days it irritates me to no end. Other days I love it. I can ask my website guru if she has any clue if you like?
Oh my stars, that’s funny! All kinds go through this, I think. We made our kids start using their own money for things and it’s amazing how little they actually want something when it’s THEIR money! This summer Michael had a job at a friend’s restaurant as a bus boy. He made $8 and hour and hasn’t spent a dime of the money. He says it’s because he’s saving for something big, I think it’s because he finally got the idea that it’s hard to earn money!
Good luck with the minions. They sure are cute, but tricky little devils. 🙂
I wish the “use-your-own-money” method worked on the boy, but it was a big fat FAIL. He spends his money until it’s gone and then tries to barter deals on how he can earn the item he’s after, once he is broke. My younger child is a little better about saving and not spending. Very different people. My son may need someone to help him watch the wallet someday. LOL. Then again, he still has time to learn.
Thanks for the good luck wishes. I need it with all the crazed purple guys running around here. Sigh. 😉
So glad the minions have not found my house. I don’t envy you the kid issues. I’m sure my kids often thought I was terrible, but I just said no a lot, lol. And if they kept bugging me, I took away privileges and other stuff.
Maybe keeping a calendar could help? “The ONLY way I’ll get this (whatever this might be) for you is if you don’t bug me about it for ??? days in a row. We’ll put stars on this calendar, and when you get ??? in a row, then we’ll get it. If you bug me even once, we have to start over.”
That’s what I used to do with timeouts. If it was five minutes, it was five quiet, still minutes. Say one word and we start timing all over again.
Yeah, maybe I was mean. 🙂
I like your calendar idea. I may have to try that one.
Funny thing, I found myself wanting, wanting last night. I guess we never grow out of it. Of course, what I want costs a whole lot more. LOL.
LOL…I know all about wanting expensive stuff. Right now all I want is a nap. Then I want a good night’s sleep…and then maybe another nap. 🙂
Good luck if you try the calendar idea. Sometimes it takes kids a little while to catch on to the fact that mom means it though. If you do try it…use different colored stars. They have to get say 14 days in a row of the same colored star. It’s the easiest way to tell if they do the consecutive days.
Toys are not what they were when we were kids! I recently saw these minion toys, and I’m hoping my younger one doesn’t discover them. We love minions, but she already has a million ponies and 5 million pet shop toys. Maybe I’m exaggerating. Maybe not. Toys are so easy to want because there are SO many of them and they are cheap. I’m right there with you! (Only I haven’t been attacked by evil minions yet.) 😀
I guess I’m lucky that my girl didn’t get heavily into either one of those. My boy has enough legos to wallpaper the room, though. He’s moved into more of a collectors mode with toys now. He keeps everything in package and checks what they are going for on eBay. Haha! Oh, you might like this – my girl HAD to have a figure of The Doctor. 😀
Ha ha. Oh, Debra – that pic, you make me laugh. My little niece will celebrate her third birthday in September and every single toy advert that plays on the TV at the moment has her saying “I’m getting that for my birthday, and that, and that…”
😀 Hehehe. I am very familiar with that sound. In fact, I heard it recently when a commercial ran for some foot spa toy filled with little water beads. I instantly envisioned those beads all over my house, getting in the carpet, being eaten by the cats, and constantly being squashed under foot. Yeah, I’m that much fun when it comes to toys. HA! I see their true mess potential.
Ah, those naughty Minions. Oh boy Debra, do I remember those days. Although, as you said in a comment above, we as adults tend to want things also. It’s a learning curve. Love Kristy’s idea. I wish I knew her way back when. lol. May the force be with you Debra!
Loved this blog post! For the past year and a half, the Livesay household has been overrun with “plushies.” Little stuffed animals. It started with Super Mario Bros., then Sonic and his friends were added, then Angry Birds and now the various Zombie vs. Plant characters. They must have at least 50 of these plushies. They drive me crazy. But they pay for them. They save up their allowance and pay for every one. I used to fuss about them spending their money on “ridiculous” things, but my hubby said if that’s what they want to save their money to purchase, we should let them.
We also have the problem with the kids wanting to keep up with the Jr. Joneses, but I then go through and point out the things they DO have (it’s a lot). Sometimes it works, when it doesn’t, I ignore the whining and tell them I’d be more than happy to take everything they have, sell it online and then they can use that money to buy the one thing they want that someone else has. I usually get good results with that one. 😉